Subject: IRDIGEST January 21, 2002 Issue
From: Helen Zuercher (hlz2@Lehigh.EDU)
Date: Mon Jan 21 2002 - 09:17:10 EST
IRDIGEST January 21, 2002 Lehigh University Information Resources CONTENTS: --SAVE PA TAXES ON COMPUTERS AND RELATED DEVICES --REMOVE OLD BLACKBOARD COURSES --TWO NEW LIBRARY RESOURCES FOR BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS --NATURE ONLINE --NEW VIDEO LOAN POLICY --NEW SILICON GRAPHICS COMPUTE SERVER --DOING LUNCH AT THE UC? TEST DRIVE A WIRELESS LAPTOP! --CHANGES RELATED TO NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM Subscription, archive and contact information is at the bottom of this digest. SAVE PA TAXES ON COMPUTERS AND RELATED DEVICES Pennsylvania is again sponsoring a tax-free PC PLUS Holiday for personal computing use. The list of qualified items that are exempt from sales and use tax has grown to include peripheral devices like printers or scanners, in addition to computers. To qualify you do not have to purchase a PC. It is possible to purchase only a printer for personal use and still not pay the tax. The tax-free days are February 17-24, 2002. For details, see http://sites.state.pa.us/taxfreepc/qa.htm REMOVE OLD BLACKBOARD COURSES Faculty, are you tired of seeing previous semester's courses listed on Blackboard? Wish all that old stuff would go away? Although there is an annual process that removes old Blackboard courses, the removal of old courses can be requested at any time. To request the removal of a course go to http://www.lehigh.edu/~intech/Blackboard/CIDelete.htm Faculty will be contacted to confirm deletion before courses are removed. It is strongly suggested that faculty archive their old courses before submitting a course deletion request. For more Blackboard tips, see the Blackboard Frequently Asked Questions page at http://www.lehigh.edu/~intech/instr_faq.htm TWO NEW LIBRARY RESOURCES FOR BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS Business and Company Resource Center is an integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals. The database brings to electronic form the contents of standard business reference works formerly received only as annual print volumes or print sets, including Brands and Their Companies, Business Rankings Annual, Consultants and Consulting Organizations Directory, International Directory of Company Histories, and Ward's Business Directory of U.S. Private and Public Companies. Access to this resource is from the Library Databases Web page http://www.lehigh.edu/~inref/databases/index.html The NBER Working Paper Series (The National Bureau of Economic Research) is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization offering research conducted by academic scholars around the country. Findings are initially reported in the nearly 500 NBER working papers published each year. Access to this resource is from the Library Databases Web page http://www.lehigh.edu/~inref/databases/index.html NATURE ONLINE There is now campus wide online access to the weekly journal Nature, which communicates original scientific discoveries across all disciplines of science. The latest research papers will often appear online ahead of print publication. Special online elements include the Nature Genome Gateway, a "feature of the week" enhanced for the Web, "naturejobs", a scientific events directory, and a grants finder. In addition faculty and students also have electronic access to Nature's monthly research titles: Nature Genetics, Nature Structural Biology, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Cell Biology, and Nature Immunology. Nature online weekly and the Nature online monthlies are accessible through the ASA catalog http://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/uhtbin/webcat NEW VIDEO LOAN POLICY As of February 1, Information Resources will implement a new circulation policy for videos housed in the Media Center, Fairchild-Martindale Library. The policy is intended to systematize lending, permit easier renewals, enhance availability, and ensure more reliable and timely return of materials. For the first time, graduate students will be permitted to borrow videos. The loan period for graduate students will be seven days, with no renewals. Fines will accrue at $10 per day up to the replacement cost of the tape or series. After ten days overdue, borrowers will be billed for replacement plus a processing fee. IR staff fervently hope that the faithful and timely return of materials will obviate the need to impose any penalties! Faculty members will be able to check out videos for seven days, with one renewal. On the fifth overdue day, library-borrowing privileges will be suspended, and on the tenth overdue day, the borrower will be billed for replacement plus a processing fee. As always, materials may be reserved (booked) in anticipation of specific use dates and tapes may also be placed on reserve for use by students in the Media Center video carrels. Faculty are encouraged to contact the Media Center to book tapes or to place tapes on reserve. Reserve materials, including distance education class tapes, will be available for in-center use only. The new policy was reviewed and supported by the Library Users Committee, a committee of faculty. For questions or additional information contact Elia Schoomer, 83058, ens0. NEW SILICON GRAPHICS COMPUTE SERVER A Silicon Graphics (SGI) model 3800 has been installed to replace the older 16 processor SGI model 2000. The SGI 2000 has been running at capacity for several years while nearly half of the individual SGI workstations were not being used. Thus the replacement strategy has focused on the need for a new central compute server. It is configured with 32 gigabytes of RAM, 32 processors and is over 4 times the speed of the old system. This system arrived in January 2002 and is due to be fully operational by early April. DOING LUNCH AT THE UC? TEST DRIVE A WIRELESS LAPTOP! WHEN: January 21-25, 11:30-1pm WHERE: University Center 2nd floor west end Wireless laptops will be available for a "test drive" in the University Center's second floor dining area. Information Resources staff will be available in the hall outside the dining area to answer questions about wireless at Lehigh, demonstrate wireless access, and check out laptops over lunch (until 1pm). We're also interested in hearing your wireless wish list (e.g., where is wireless coverage most needed?). Stop by our booth! CHANGES RELATED TO NEW TELEPHONE SYSTEM Lehigh University will be implementing a new telephone system in late May. A Web page at http://www.lehigh.edu/phones/replace.html will keep users up to date about these changes. Residence hall lines will be converted from digital to analog, and analog phones specially configured to work with the new system will be provided in each bedroom at no cost. Students may bring their own telephones if they wish, but should be aware that these phones are not likely to work seamlessly with the most frequently-used features: voice mail, call waiting and hold. Students in all university residences will now be able to use fax machines and modems. Answering machines are not advised since every student will automatically have voice mail. ******************************************************************** Send your comments or suggestions for future topics by replying directly to the list. TO SUBSCRIBE TO IRDIGEST: Send email to: Listproc@lehigh.edu Type in the body of the message: Subscribe irdigest <your name>. Call the IR Help Desk (84357) if you have any difficulty in subscribing. IRDIGEST archives are located at: http://www.lehigh.edu/lists/archives/irdigest
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